Nice article on Winston

"Around the league everyone talks about, any guys that have been here, they love it. You don't really hear a bad word about the organization as far as how they treat the guys, take care of the guys, how good the guys are in the locker room," he said "... and then you get here and you see the facilities, you see how they're trying to support all the players with all the support staff and everything else, I haven't been anywhere like this, I can say that."

http://mynorthwest.com/719/2576562/A-fe ... ic-Winston

loved it, i have a great feeling about him, I think he really likes ZBS vs gap and he will have a comeback year.

the best part was at the end they asked him if he had talked to BAMBAM since he got to camp. He took it well and laughed with bob + groz.

Worth the read, thanks.
I like that he hasn't forgotten the encounter with Kam.

I think seattletimes has the article but Wintston basically said that he doesn't mind being a mentor and that he's here for Justin Britt if he needs him.

After getting to know Winston more the last few day, I don't know how any one can still hate the signing. If you have doubts based on last year, I get it, but that's because he had to learn a new system and he played much better in the 2nd half than the first half after getting acclimated.

Winston is a better all-around player than Giacomini, and has 119 games of starting experience compared to the rest of the presumed starting O-Line: Okung, Carpenter, Unger, and Sweezy who combined have 150 starts.

Winston fills the most glaring hole on the team. I'm not as worried about RT.

Liked the wrap-up as well.

Still has to make the team, since there are always some shocking cuts that the team makes. MacDonald was a slight surprise last year and maybe Winfield. Winslow the year before and Housh year one (along with Babs and Locklear, only to be re-signed. I may be mis-remembering these two).

To me, Winston looks like this guy.

I was wondering why he got released and found a few articles here and there. At Houston he was a top ranked RT and people were dumbfounded when he was released. It may have been because of the 6.8 million he was making.

I did some looking and the year after he was released, Arian Foster YPA dropped from 4.4 to 4.1. That may or may not have had something to do with a new RT. Couldn't judge about pass protecting stats because they had musical QBs in 2011, his last year there, but it "looks" like he did well protecting TJ Yates who was said to hold on to the ball almost longer than anyone else.

PFF article from March 2012:

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2 ... he-market/

Looks like the Chiefs released him over money and draft issues because they tagged Brandon Albert (who was shocked by the release) and eventually drafted Eric Fisher #1 overall.

"Many were caught by surprise, including one of Winston's teammates -- left tackle Branden Albert.

What???? — Branden Albert (@Balbert76) March 7, 2013"

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nf ... t/1969591/

http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2013/3/7/ ... -nfl-draft

"Kansas City Chiefs, who released him only one year into a four-year, $22 million contract."

www.nfl.com/.../eric-winston-arizona-ca ... eyear-deal


As far as the Cardinals, they probably released him because he got embarrassed by KamTrack. They may have had money issues too, looking for less of a zone blocking tackle (Winston's forte) and more of a pass protector. But that's just a guess on my part.

From what I could find, it looks like the Cards had signed Eric to a 1 year deal worth between 1.25 million and 2 million. They certainly have enough tackles on their roster without him though. I counted 6 including Bobby Massie, Max Starks, and Jared Veldheer.

imho, this whole thing comes down to money, room on the roster, and teams being paranoid about an older player. I'm going to be positive and think that he's going to do well for us. It will certainly be nice to have someone that doesn't spend half the season injured. And he already knows the zone blocking scheme which he learned from Alex Gibbs.